Nikki Haley Announces Plan to Vote for Trump, Calls Biden ‘a Catastrophe’

In her first major foreign policy speech since ending her own presidential campaign, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley declared that she will be voting for Donald Trump in the next election, despite acknowledging that “Trump has not been perfect” on policies important to her.

Speaking at the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C., Haley was critical of President Joe Biden’s leadership, describing it as “a catastrophe.” She stated, “Biden has been a catastrophe. So I will be voting for Trump.”

However, Haley’s statement was not a full-throated endorsement of the former president. “Having said that, I stand by what I said in my suspension speech,” she noted, referencing her previous calls for Trump to “earn the votes” of those who did not support him in the past.

Haley, who is now a professor at the Hudson Institute, used her speech to criticize an “isolationist” trend within the Republican Party. She argued that the U.S. must maintain an interventionist foreign policy, including continued support for Ukraine and Israel.

The Biden campaign responded by stating that “nothing has changed” for the many Republican voters who have rejected Trump’s “chaos, division and violence” in the primaries. They emphasized the importance of standing strong with U.S. allies against foreign adversaries.

Haley’s remarks provide an interesting preview of her potential role leading up to the 2024 election. As a prominent Republican voice, her support for Trump’s candidacy could carry significant weight, even as she maintains some distance from the former president. Her hawkish foreign policy views also set her apart from the more isolationist elements within her party.